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Shadow Hunters (mission)
|fgcolor= |name=Shadow Hunters |prev=The Trial of Tassadar |conc= |next=Eye of the Storm |image=ShadowHunters SC1 Map1.jpg |imgsize=200px |conflict=Great War |date=June, 2500 |place=Aiur |result= *Cerebrates killed *Protoss assault continues toward the Overmind |side1= Tassadar's Followers |side2= Zerg Swarm |commanders1= Executor Artanis Templar Fenix Dark Prelate Zeratul |commanders2= Cerebrate Gorn Unknown cerebrate |forces1= Fleet of the Executor |forces2= Tiamat Brood Baelrog Brood Grendel Brood |client= |reqmissnum= |altmission= |goal= *Use Zeratul to destroy the zerg cerebrates *Zeratul and Fenix must survive |heroes=Fenix, Zeratul |newchar= |newunit=Arbiter |newtech=Arbiter tribunal }} Shadow Hunters is the ninth protoss mission of Episode III of StarCraft. History Background After the rescue of High Templar Tassadar from the Conclave, Tassadar and his followers regrouped to plan their attack on the zerg. Dark Prelate Zeratul revealed that when he slew Zasz on Char, for a brief moment his mind and the Overmind's touched, and Zeratul could read its thoughts. He discovered the zerg were created by the xel'naga, the ancient race that also created the protoss, and that the Overmind has come to Aiur to finish their experiments on the two races.Tassadar: "Zeratul, perhaps the time has come to tell our friends of the foe we face." Zeratul: "Indeed. When I slew the Cerebrate on Char, I touched briefly with the essence of the Overmind. In that instant, my mind was filled with its thoughts, and I tell you now our worst fears have come true. The Zerg were indeed created by the ancient Xel'Naga, the same beings that empowered us in our infancy. But the Overmind grew beyond their constraints, and has at last come to finish the experiments they began so long ago." StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Level/area: Shadow Hunters (in English). 1998. Tassadar believed that if the protoss could not stop the Overmind on Aiur, it and the zerg would destroy the sector with no hope to defeat them. Fenix proposed to lead an attack on two cerebrates, and to destroy the zerg defenders to allow Zeratul to get close and kill the cerebrates. It was the group's hope that with their deaths, the Overmind would be distracted long enough that the protoss could get close enough to the Overmind's nesting area to assault it directly.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Mission: Shadow Hunters (in English). 1998. The attack was successful; Zeratul killed the cerebrates, throwing the Overmind's defenders into disarray, allowing the protoss to plan an attack on the creature itself.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Mission: Eye of the Storm (in English). 1998. Walkthrough The player begins without a base, but a small army and 1000 minerals. There exist two mineral fields near their spawn location, to the east and west. The player can choose either site for their initial base; the western site is more open with more room to build, but the eastern site is more closed for easier defense. Regardless of which site the player chooses for their base, they should claim the other early in the mission. A risky, but potentially very rewarding strategy, is to take both sites at the start of the mission. This will slow down the growth of the player's base at first, but their economy will be much stronger over time as they catch up. Note that the player controls a total of 24 supply worth of units, so a nexus and at least two pylons will be needed before more units can be made. The two cerebrates the player is to kill are far to the north, behind numerous zerg defenders. The red Tiamat Brood controls most of the southern part of the map, beyond that are the Grendel and Baelrog Broods and their cerebrates. The Tiamat Brood will attack with primarily ground units, including ultralisks, while the Baelrog Brood uses air units and the Grendel Brood uses caster units, particularly queens and defilers. When the player moves against the Grendel and Baelrog, if they have the forces to destroy one of their bases, they can destroy the other as well, so there is no advantage to attacking one or the other. The map is difficult to navigate for ground units, so the player should build up a fleet of carriers for their attack. The new unit for the mission, the arbiter, requires a significant investment of resources and time to deploy and is not useful offensively, as the zerg have overlord detectors in abundance. However, the arbiter's recall and stasis field abilities can be very effective, so it may be worth building an arbiter tribunal to research the abilities for the arbiter the player begins with. The player should have at least a dozen carriers before they move out, preferably more, upgraded as fully as possible. If the player need more resources, they can destroy the Tiamat bases in the south and seize them as their own. This army of carriers will be able to push far to the north and then sweep the zerg bases. Once the bases are mostly destroyed and the way is clear, the player can bring Zeratul in to kill the cerebrates; killing them without Zeratul will cause them to instantly respawn infinitely. When the cerebrates are dead by Zeratul's hand, the mission is won. Notes *Because of the way the map triggers work, the player does not need to have Zeratul actually deal the killing blow to the cerebrates; having him very close to them when another unit kills them will work. References Category:StarCraft Episode III missions Category:StarCraft Protoss missions